A lot of technical discussion on videogames centres around content and aesthetics -- the visual fidelity of the cinematics, the fluidity of animations, polycounts, framerates, narratives, character development, etc, etc. But despite being a vital part of any online multiplayer game, networking architecture doesn't tend to get much air time.

In part one we described what dedicated servers are, and their advantages over player-hosted, peer to peer alternatives. But not all dedicated servers are created equal, so going further this time, we explore the differences between closed and open server models used in multiplayer games. Read on for Part 2 - The Difference Between Closed and Open Server Models